Shah Rukh Khan’s production company, Red Chillies Entertainment, on October 30 challenged former Narcotics Control Bureau zonal head Sameer Wankhede’s defamation suit over his alleged portrayal in the company’s web series, The Ba***ds Of Bollywood. The company argued before the Delhi high court that someone who was already the subject of “public ridicule and adverse commentary” could not “claim special protection from fair comment or satire”.
Red Chillies said, the Netflix series, directed by Shah Rukh’s son, Aryan Khan, was “a work of situational satire” which does not name or depict Wankhede, or contain defamatory material.
It may be mentioned here that Aryan Khan was arrested by Sameer Wankhede in an NCB raid on a cruise ship in 2021. He was exonerated by the NCB in 2022.
Red Chillies Entertainment’s reply, filed earlier in October, stated that all characters in the series were intentionally depicted with exaggerated traits and mannerisms to generate humour and underscore societal or situational absurdities. The reply said, the defamation suit sought to curtail and suppress legitimate artistic expression, parody and satire.
Sameer Wankhede had, in his defamation suit, sought to take down the “objectionable” content from the series as it amounted to “maligning” his reputation.
